“The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight.”
Carly Fiorina, Former CEO of HP

There is a misconception about data that the more you have, the more productive your mine operations will be. More information theoretically leads to more informed decisions, however if there is such an abundance of information that you don’t know how to pick out the meaningful parts, it can lead to frustration and inefficiency as you try to wade through data that is invisibly piling up around you.

A report is only useful if it contains information that is wanted, delivered in a timely manner to the individuals and teams that can make informed decisions after reading it. So many software programs and Fleet Management Systems (FMS) promise all manner of reports, but how many do your mine site supervisors, mine surveyors, mine operations managers and operations team actually need, let alone read?

Essential to a meaningful report, of course, is also a factually accurate one. How do you know that the data your mining software is churning out faster than you can file it away is giving you correct information?

Aptella has recently introduced a Technology Health Check service for mine sites. “We’ve seen an increase in the demand for our health checks to assist mines with change management and customising technology to suit customer needs,” explained Andrew Granger, Business Development Manager for Mining.

“The service includes an in-depth look into the current systems used by different stakeholders in the mine site, what’s working for them, what’s causing frustration or lacking in the technology, where there are gaps in the workflow and so on,” he added.

Aptella technicians can validate data to ensure that the reports being generated are accurate, as well as consolidate the number of reports into something more meaningful.

“Thousands of reports are useless if none of them are getting read,” Andrew adds. “We worked with a mine site recently where different supervisors were reading different reports, so we consolidated them into a single, central report with a traffic-light colour code that gave them an immediate visual representation of where they needed to focus attention.

“It’s a simple way of making a cumbersome and difficult to understand report something that all mine supervisors could easily read, and more importantly act on,” he said.

In another example, a customer had already invested in an FMS solution, however the machine guidance technology was proving ineffective and difficult for operators to use. “Operator confidence in the system was extremely important, so we initially set up one dozer and one excavator with a new machine guidance option,” Andrew said. “Within a month, the customer had ordered another seven machine guidance systems because the operators were really embracing the technology. It solved that particular pain point for the mine without them having to reinvest in an entirely new FMS.”

Mr Granger explains that change management is key when onboarding any new technology, or even to make use of technology that has been on site for some time but that isn’t quite working to your site’s needs.

“Every site operates in a slightly different way, requiring different information delivered at certain points in the team’s workflow,” he says, adding “our Technology Health Checks are a way for mine site supervisors and operations managers to step back and ask for everything that would add true value to their day-to-day tasks.

“Ultimately, data is supposed to make your life easier, not harder, so it’s important to get it working just the way it needs to, so that it enables productivity not hinders it,” he said.

To book a Technology Health Check for your mine, speak to your local Aptella mining technology expert today by calling 1300 867 266.